A race between the U.S. and Russia is underway to secure the debris of the drone that crashed into the Black Sea.
Russian officials announced Wednesday that operations were underway to collect the debris of the downed U.S. drone — the country has denied responsibility for the incident.
Military command officials said Tuesday that a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on a U.S. drone over the Black Sea. The fighter jet allegedly clipped the drone's propeller while traveling in international airspace, causing the crash.
National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told CNN Wednesday that the U.S. military has already moved to "protect our equities" and that they did not want anyone else "getting their hands on [the drone.]"
"Without getting to too much detail, what I can say is that we've taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone, that particular aircraft and its United States property," Kirby said. "We obviously don't want to see anybody getting their hands on it beyond us."
Russia has denied that the aircraft touched one another, and accusing the U.S. of unnecessarily escalating the issue.
